Portland’s wacky and wonderful neighboring cities.

When news came out today that the ever-popular, property-value-setting, super-gourmet New Seasons Market decided to open a location in Portland’s nearest Washingtonian metropolis, Vancouver, it made us think fondly on all of Portland’s neighboring cities, towns and suburbs.

For those of you who are new to the area (or are like us and have very narrow tunnel vision), Portland has a large number of neighboring cities/towns/suburbs. Here’s just a few: Beaverton (“Niketown”) to the west with its oft-ignored friend Hillsboro (way west), the twin southerners of Tigard and Tualatin, the rich neighborhoods of Lake Oswego (which has nicknames we won’t print here – rhyme it out), Oregon City (no, not that O.C.) to the south with Milwaukie (no, not that Milwaukee) while Happy Valley (which kind of lives up to its namesake) and Gresham (“he-who-shall-not-be-named”) pick up the easterly borders.

There are many more than the few we mentioned here, but the biggest of Portland’s neighbors is the one across the river, Vancouver, Washington, and it has a large number of nifty nicknames: the ‘couve, Vantucky, Vancouver USA, mini-Portland, Couvegas (ok, we made that last one up) and many, many more.

Given how popular Portland has become over the last few decades, is it any wonder that people want to move here from all over and find themselves unable to live within Portland proper? Finding quality, affordable housing within the city limits isn’t easy – in fact, to many, “affordable” and “downtown Portland” creates an oxymoron.